Bonds
by For all the eternity
Summary: Frank leaves the Hoover house so as not to harm Dwayne with his innapropriate feelings, but what happens when Dwayne moves with Frank, three years later? Dwayne / Frank Basically a story of how Dwayne and Frank's relationship goes from friendship to romance, and all the obstacles in between.
1. Chapter 1

1. BONDS

When the family arrives home, after the Little Miss Sunshine trip, the harsh reality sets in on each of them. Edwin had died and been buried in another state, and Dwayne would never be able to achieve his dreams. The thing is, most of the family - except for Frank who had only met Edwin when he moved in with the Hoovers, and Dwayne, who was not related to Edwin - was too overpowered by grief to remember the latter, which left uncle and nephew alone to settle in the yougest's room. Along the trip, they'd developed a strong bond, which started with being able to respect eachother's silence, but strengthened when they began sharing their personal thoughts.

In the middle of the night, Frank felt someone sitting on his bed and woke up to find a tousled Dwayne silently asking him to scoot over. Doing so, Dwayne lied down next to him and they stayed quiet for a while.

"What the fuck am I gonna do now?" Dwayne asked, arm over his eyes. Hearing Dwayne's voice was still very strange to him, like a secret treasure. Knowing the boy's voice was only used when he thought it strictly necessary made their conversations very special to Frank.

"Do what you love, isn't that what you said you would?" Frank replied, slightly confused. Dwayne chuckled without humour.

"Easier said than done."

"Why?" Dwayne turned around and looked straight into Frank's eyes in a way that unsettled the older man. Dwayne's eyes were black like a raven's feathers, two pools of bottled up emotion. Terrifyingly beautiful in the moonlight.

"How do I know what loving something feels like?" he paused, his eyebrows knitting together. "What does love feel like?"

"It's like... Well, when you love something... or someone, there is this... feeling you get in your chest, this feeling of emptiness which you know can only be stopped by the addition of the object of your love to your life. If you get it, you just love, just live, and give what you can give. And take what little you deserve. And if you can't have it, the emptiness starts sucking small pieces of you. If you can't let go, you just..." Frank looks absentmindedly at the scars on his wrists. "Die on the inside." he looks back up into Dwayne's eyes. his voice had turned into a whisper. "You never really stop loving something, you just start being able to live without it."

"Have you ever felt that way?" Dwayne asks. Frank thinks about it for a while.

"I thought I did once. Now I just think I was obsessed. You need to know when to stop, with love, or it'll end up like that." he whispered.

"I hope you get the love that you deserve someday." Dwayne said, those black pools intruding in his mind once more. This time, Frank smiled bitterly, unfazed.

"That's nice of you."

The silence crept in again, the pale moonlight playing with their eyelids and lulling them to a state between sleep and awareness. For the first time in a long time, the feelings that ate each of them up were eased down and forgotten due to the reassuring presence of the other.

Dwayne opened his eyes slightly and turned to lie on his side, facing Frank. And in a sleepy innocent voice, just before he fully passed out, he asked "Just promise you won't hurt yourself again..." Frank froze for a second, his heart swelling with the words. Looking at Dwayne, he smiled to himself, feeling something bittersweet invade him as he listened to his nephew's light breathing next to him.

Then, his eyes popped open. "What the fuck is wrong with me?"

* * *

The next week, Frank moves out of the Hoover house. The only reason he hadn't left in the morning next to the night when his feelings had arised was that he couldn't leave Dwayne alone with those people. He stayed until the grieving ended for the rest of the family and then he took off. He couldn't let this strange form of imorality grow, so he'd cut it's evil by the root.  
He'd only talked to Sheryl about leaving, so when he opened the door in the early morning with a cab waiting for him across the street, he didn't expect a voice to call him from inside. A tussled Dwayne stood in the middle of the living room, confusion written all over his face.

"Where the fuck are you going?" Frank took a deep breath and braced himself for the consequences of what he was about to say.

"I'm going away, Dwayne."

The boy just stared at him, the confusion giving place to betrayal. Dwayne felt crushed from the inside. He'd allowed the older man into his secrets and emotions, and now he was leaving? Without a hint of warning? A heartbroken "Why?" left his lips, as he aproached Frank, looking in the older man's eyes, trying to understand why he'd do this. "You... You don't get to do that."By now, Dwayne was only mere inches from Frank, holding the lapels of his jacket, his voice failing. "You don't get to make me trust you and then simply leave without saying a sigle fucking word about it! You don't get to..." Frank wound his arms reassuringly around Dwayne, remembering himself that this was only a child who eventually would find someone to trust again, and that he couldn't stand in the way.

"It's not like we'll never see eachother again..." Dwayne looked up at him, understanding what he meant by that.

"It'll be a long time." Dwayne said to himself. Frank leaned in and kissed his forehead, sighing.

"Don't worry, I'll call. Promise." Then, the older man took a step back, looked at Dwayne for a while and left. And indeed, it would be a long time.

A/N: This is pretty much my first fanfiction and it's not written in my native language, so any constructive criticism would be appreciating. Thank you!


	2. Chapter 2

Three Years Later.

Frank now lived on his own, in an apartment right next to the his workplace, a famous university on the outskirts of the city.  
The place had few but large rooms, consisting of a living room and kitchenette, a bathroom, an office and library, and a bedroom. All the walls were painted in light earthy tones and the space was decorated with all-white furniture and darker accents, like the wooden lamps and the book bindings that covered several walls all over the house.

His life was peaceful and uneventful. He liked to keep it that way. It kept him away from unwanted feelings, thoughts and memories. On the first months, though, he still felt like the best thing he could do was retrace the scars on his wrists with a sharp object, but always gave up at the last second, reminding himself that the things that made him want that destiny were the same that made him stay on this world. So, he kept a distance with his sister's family, calling her only once every other month, to hear about their wellbeing and any news she may have to share.

As he cooked himself a simple meal consisting of brocoli and cherry tomato pasta, the fresh smell of aromatic herbs filling the air, the phone rang. He rolled his eyes, lowered the stove's power and awnsered it. It was obviously Sheryl.

"Hello, Sheryl."

"Frank! How have you been doing?" she seemed very happy, considering the last time they'd spoken she'd burst into tears, complaining about Richard.

"Neat. And you?"

"Quite well, actually. Dwayne just got his acceptance letters for university!" his heart sunk a little, and he forced his best polite voice out of his throat.

"Oh, wow. Which one did he choose?" a nervous chuckle could be heard from the other side. 'This can't be good'

"Actually, that was what I was hoping to talk to you about. You see, he wants to go to your uni, and we were hoping you'd let him stay with you." his inner voice started going full on psycho, on one hand not wanting to see Dwayne again and on the other knowing he intrisically needed to. "It's quite far from our place, and driving him there would be too expensive for us as you may imagine. So, it would be a huge favour you'd be doing us. But I'd understand if you said no, I mean, it's your privacy, and it is completely..."

"He can stay here." he clawed at his face, regreting his words as soon as they left his lips. "You sure?"

"..yeah, sure, you can bring him in anytime."

"Thank you so much. I owe you one. We'll be there on tuesday at four. Bye." she hung up then, leaving Frank to wonder about the next days and how much sleep he'd actually be able to get.

"You sure do."

* * *

Dwayne wasn't happy at first. In fact, he was the second angriest he'd ever been. He didn't want to go to Frank's house. He didn't even want to see that fucking asshole anymore. He'd never even attepted to call him since he'd left, he hadn't visited once, he hadn't even asked about Dwayne. It was like he'd forgotten, and Dwayne was on his own, with no one to trust or rely on. Dwayne had really liked Frank once, while he stayed with them after his suicide attempt. It had been a huge crush, like only a teenager can have, but eventually he learned to forget about it, and anger replaced tenderness when Frank stopped all contact.

"Come on darling, your uncle is waiting for us." his mother ushered him ou the door and into the car, throwing his stuffed camping backpack to the backseat. He ran a hand through his black hair, and readied himself for an extremely different type of hell.

* * *

It was four o'clock and Frank was a pile of nerves. He hadn't seen Dwayne since he found him on the entry hall three whole years ago.

He'd devoted more time to his appearence that usual that day, but still showed his casual self - he'd shaved and donned a light linen shirt over navy trousers - to show Sheryl he was doing well and feeling better.

Finally, at four fifteen, the bell rang, and his heart immediately started racing with nervousness. He took some seconds to calm down and take a deep breath before opening the door.

Frank was immediately engulfed in a hug by Sheryl. "Frank! How are you?" she said, pulling back, enough to look at him. "You look better."

He gave her a small, slightly strained smile. "Thanks. I'm good, and you?"

"Ah, well, you know. Surviving." she said, chuckling.

"Come on in." only then did Frank see the boy that had been standing next to his sister. He was no longer a boy, that's for sure. His pale body was lean but discretely muscled, and he was at least four inches taller than when they'd last seen eachother, making then around the same height. His face had taken sharper features, which were enhenced by his strong shaved jaw. Yet, there was still and awkwardness to Dwayne that was reminiscent of the boy he'd once been and so very, very atractive.

"Hello Dwayne." he said, trying to sound nonchalant and failing miserably, shaken Dwayne's black eyes staring at him, showing only his anger and sadness.

"Hi." the young man entered the living room and settled quietly on the couch, watching as Frank and Sheryl chatted. Eventually, his mother left, which left them to deal with eachother.

"You didn't call." Dwayne's words were even and sharp. Frank sat next to him on the couch.

"I'm sorry, Dwayne, I..." he paused for a little, the feelings he'd felt after leaving the boy behind swallowing him again. "I never meant to hurt you. I just needed some time on my own."

Dwayne looked over at the older man, and it occured him that he looked older than his age, as if he carried the world upon his shoulders. It pitied him. Frank had always seemed to him young at heart, romantic and reckless when he was happy. Yet, seeing him like this reminded Dwayne of post-suicide attempt Frank. It reminded him of the Frank he befriended as a fifteen year old.

"Still, you promised. You could have called at least once to say that. It was pretty selfish of you."

"Believe me you, it was for both our sakes."

"Doubt it, asshole." Dwayne remamrked, half honest, half joking. Frank smiled lightly, recognising the Dwayne he knew and loved.

"Can we ever get back to how we were back then?" Frank asked, hopeful. Dwayne took a while to reply. The boy wanted things to return to how they were three years ago, and, quite frankly, he couldn't resist

"We can try, I guess." Frank smiled, a true smile this time. They could go back, they could get to know eachother again, and share wonderful times. It would be easy.

"Then how about we have dinner and you tell me all about what happened these last years?" Frank proposed, his smile getting bigger by the second.

Dwayne craked a crooked smile and headed toward the kitchen.

When Frank looked at his nephew's rear he realised it wouldn't be that easy after all.


End file.
